Question

【題目】Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

A Workaholic Economy

Although the output per hour of work has more than doubled since 1945, leisure seems reserved largely for the unemployed and underemployed. Those who work full-time spend as much time on the job as they did at the end of World War Ⅱ. In fact, working hours have increased noticeably since 1970. Bookstores now abound with manuals describing how to manage time and cope with stress.

There are mainly two reasons for lost leisure.

Since 1970, companies have responded to improvements in the business climate by having employees work overtime rather than by hiring extra personnel. Some firms are even downsizing as their profits climb. A host of factors pushes employers to hire fewer workers for more hours and, at the same time, compels workers to spend more time on the job. Most of those incentives(誘因) involve the structure of compensation(報酬). The way salaries and benefits are organized makes it more profitable to ask 40 employees to labor an extra hour each than to hire one more worker to do the same 40-hour job. Once people are on salary, their cost to a firm is the same whether they spend 35 hours a week in the office or 70. Therefore, it is more profitable for employers to work their existing employees harder.

For all that employees complain about long hours, they, too, have reasons not to trade money for leisure. “People who work reduced hours pay a huge penalty in career terms,” Bailyn of Massachusetts Institute of Technology maintains. “It’s taken as a negative signal about their commitment to the firm.” He adds that many corporate managers find it difficult to measure the contribution of their employees to a firm’s well-being, so they estimate staff productivity in terms of hours worked. Employees know this, and they adjust their behavior accordingly.

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Answer 1

【答案】People actually work more hours than before despite the increased productivity. On one hand, it’s because the payment distribution system makes it economical for companies to have employees work overtime than hiring more people. On the other hand, employees tend to work long hours because their working time is linked to their contribution to the firm.

【解析】

本篇書面表達(dá)是概要寫作，要求概括盡管生產(chǎn)力提高了，但人們實際工作的時間比以前多了。一方面，這是因為薪酬分配制度使得公司讓員工加班比雇傭更多的人更經(jīng)濟；另一方面，員工傾向于長時間工作，因為他們的工作時間與他們對公司的貢獻(xiàn)有關(guān)，注意詞數(shù)要求和使用自己的語言。

1、寫之前，需要認(rèn)真仔細(xì)地讀幾遍原文材料，讓理解更深刻。

2、遵循原文的邏輯順序，對重要部分的主題、標(biāo)題、細(xì)節(jié)進(jìn)行概括，全面清晰地表明原文信息。

3、給摘要起一個好標(biāo)題，比如：可以采用文中的主題句。

4、盡量使用自己的話完成，不要引用原文的句子，篇幅控制在原文的三分之一或四分之一長。